1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the measurement of ocean sediment properties, and more particularly to a subseafloor environmental simulator for measuring the sediment properties in a controlled environment.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Acoustical properties and their relationship to other physical properties of ocean sediments are important to the fields of underwater acoustics, physical oceanography and geophysics. Previously, measurements of sediment properties have been the result of in situ measurements in a real environment. These measurements have the advantage that the environment is the natural one, but there are disadvantages in that the measurements are difficult to make, the degree of disturbance is not easy to determine, and the environmental parameters are not subject to control so that one must make measurements in widely separated areas to obtain a range of parameter values. Moreover, due to limitations imposed by available measurement techniques, the in situ method can yield only limited quantities of data. Therefore, it is desired to make sediment property measurements using a controlled environment to vary parameters and to yield large quantities of useful data.